Dean of UH Law Center resigning

Move follows criticism for drop in national ratings

University of Houston Law Center Dean Nancy Rapoport announced her resignation Monday, six years into a tenure that saw the law school drop 20 spots in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

The decision comes just one week after a faculty meeting in which students who showed up to discuss the drop in rankings and some professors aggressively criticized Rapoport.

Some students said Rapoport cried during the meeting.

"Rumors are going to twist it into her breaking down, and I don't think that's accurate," said second-year student Neil Desai, who attended the meeting. "There's one thing to be sobbing and there's one thing to be talking passionately and becoming emotional after what was two and a half hours of having not only to defend herself," but her vision for the school, he said.

In a letter to faculty, staff and students at the law center, Rapoport tied her decision to "events of the past week or so," but did not elaborate before going on to reflect on her time as dean.

"It's a very human instinct to wonder how history will view my tenure as dean. Although that assessment may be years in the making, today I can tell you with a smile and great confidence that I am very proud of what I've accomplished here," she wrote.

Rapoport did not return phone calls seeking additional comment.

Allison provided setback

School officials credited Rapoport with helping to hire qualified faculty and adding to the financial endowment, as well as helping the school recover from Tropical Storm Allison, after which its library lost some 300,000 volumes.

"She has done a lot of very good things for the law center and for the university," said university Provost Donald Foss, who cautioned against putting too much stock in the magazine rankings. Applications to the school remain high, Foss said.

The law school was ranked 50th in 2002 and 52nd in 2003 before it fell to 69 in 2004. Rankings released earlier this month placed UH at No. 70 in a tie with six other schools, including Seton Hall University and the University of Denver.

"A drop of 15 or 20 points is important. But it's important in a way that the stock market price is important," Foss said. "Prices do not necessarily reflect the underlying value of a company; they are sometimes too high and sometimes too low."

For the most part, students agreed.

"Everybody who's in law school or has been through law school knows that they're somewhat arbitrary, but like it or not, they're the most visible indicator the outside world has to value our law school or any law school," said third-year student Alex Roberts, editor-in-chief of the Houston Law Review. "It's what students look at, it's what employers look at. Like it or not, it's the game that we're forced to play."

Though students were frustrated that the drop in rankings affects outside perception of their school, most of their own opinions had not changed.

East Coast bias alleged

"People here don't buy that we are ranked that low," said 24-year-old Joy Hermansen.

Other students reserved their judgment.

"I think I'll start to get (angry) when it starts to affect my ability to get a job," said Irfan Tukdi, 26.

Many students criticized the rankings Monday as being overly subjective, arbitrary or biased toward East Coast schools.

But there are real problems, they said, such as a high student-to-faculty ratio and outdated facilities, that could be fixed with more funding. Foss said he intends to review those areas and other weaknesses pointed out in the U.S. News & World Report rankings.

"We need to do things to help ensure that the reputation of the school goes up and better reflects the underlying reality," he said.

Ranking backlash denied

Some students wondered whether Rapoport's announcement was a direct reaction to the rankings backlash.

Foss denied that Rapoport's resignation was so motivated.

The rankings "do not have that kind of credence," Foss said. "A person in my position would not be interested in a dean resigning over a small dip in the rankings."

Rapoport will remain on the job through May. Foss said he plans to appoint an interim dean and a search committee to find her replacement soon.

Rapoport may return to the school as a professor after a one-year sabbatical, according to a press release.